From Now On You'll Be Able To Access NASA Research For Free (vice.com)

An anonymous reader writes:Fancy some super nerdy bedtime reading? NASA has announced that it will now provide public access to all journal articles on research funded by the agency. Any scientists publishing NASA-funded work will be required to upload their papers to a free, online database called PubSpace within a year of publication. PubSpace is managed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) PubMed Central, which archives biomedical research. You can see NASA-funded studies here, with recent examples including a paper on cardiovascular disease in Apollo astronauts and one on Martian tsunamis caused by meteor impacts. NASA explains that the new web portal is a response to a 2013 government request for federally-funded research to be more accessible. There are a few obvious exceptions to what's included, such as and material that's related to national security or affected by export controls. NASA's openness follows a trend to make science results more accessible outside of published, often paywalled journals.

Comments

The culture of modern science

[npslider]

The greater access everyone has to primary source material the better. When most people are only learning about new discoveries from mass media that cites research papers, much is lost and bias is introduced. The results of research should not be a walled fortress for the elite in-crowd, but an open, accessible library of knowledge for all.